Amazing diversity of Central Asia. Soviet propaganda posters for residents of Central Asia (17 photos)
Ours and others
For most people who grew up after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Central Asia seems to be an unfamiliar and not very clear southern region, where it is very warm, there is a lot of fruit, and from where many migrant workers, Tajiks, Uzbeks, and Kyrgyzs go to Russia to work.
But Central Asia, no matter how distant it may seem to us today, has been part of the Russian Empire, then the Soviet Union. During this time, several generations have changed. The difficult role the “Asian question” played in Russian history will be discussed in this article, using the example of the Central Asian uprising of 1916.
The territories of modern Asian states - Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan - gradually became part of Russia.
Northwestern (Ural Cossack army) and North-Eastern (Semipalatinsk, Ust-Kamenogorsk and others) regions of the state of Kazakhstan within the current borders have never been part of Muslim Asia. Russian peasants and Cossacks lived here from the late 16th and early 17th centuries. These territories were transferred to the Kazakhs Soviet power, during the fight against “Great Russian chauvinism”.
Most of Kazakhstan firmly became part of the Russian Empire at the end of the 18th - first half of the 19th centuries. Turkestan, the territory of four other Asian states, became Russian in the 60s - 80s of the century before last. At the same time, on the territory of Central Asia, during the entire period of Russian domination here and until 1920, two formally independent Muslim states remained under Russian protectorate - the Bukhara and Khiva khanates.
Prefacing the article, I will say right away that I consider the annexation of these lands to Russia to be the most severe mistake of the Russian imperial power. Carried away by superficial imperial and general civil ideas, our Russian ancestors forgot that “The East is a delicate matter.” Ignoring the Islamic factor, not understanding that the concepts of “us” and “foe” in politics are much more real than cotton, silk and border security, led us to tragic consequences.
National politics royal authorities, of course, was not anti-Russian. It was believed that the imperial power reflected the interests of the Russian people and relied on them in its activities. But the second, unfortunately, was true to a much greater extent than the first.
What was Russia looking for in Central Asia?
If there are economic benefits, then we received mainly losses. It is believed that direct subsidies to the region, not covered by anything and never returning to the treasury, during the years of their rule Russian authorities spent at least 320 million rubles in gold. For comparison, all annual Russian treasury revenues in 1909 were approximately 136 million rubles. And there were so many indirect costs - for new staff and the maintenance of Russian officials, education, maintenance of roads and waterways, military garrisons, pensions and benefits for the local aristocracy, and so on, that it is very difficult to fully take them into account. According to my estimates, the content of Central Asia annually drew from the Russian folk body at least 15% of its income. But there was also the Caucasus, also subsidized. Is it surprising that with such unnecessary costs, Russia lagged economically behind England, France, and Germany?
At one time, while working on my Ph.D. dissertation, I looked through many documents that came from the pen of the head of the Trans-Caspian region, later the Minister of War of Russia, General A.N. Kuropatkin. And now these thick handwritten and typewritten folders probably lie in the Military Historical Archive in Moscow and are awaiting deeper research. I remember well that this territory (now Turkmenistan) covered no more than 10% of its expenses with its own income, taxes and fees. Everything else is subsidies from Russia. I remember how Kuropatkin wrote that in terms of the level of household amenities, street lighting, pavements, squares and parks, street sewerage, and so on, “Askhabad, the capital of Transcaspia, is an order of magnitude higher than any provincial city central Russia" The general did not write that such an effect was achieved precisely by robbing the population of the provinces of central Russia in favor of the population of the outskirts.
Perhaps, if Russia’s material and human resources had not been spent so mediocrely, but had been directed to schools and medicine, the construction of roads and enterprises in central Russia, a terrible tragedy would not have happened in our country. social revolution and the Civil War?
The native population of Central Asia was exempt from many government taxes. In fact, taxes were paid by the population, of course. But they did not go to the treasury of the empire, but to support the native administration, religious schools, and mosques. In Turkestan there was more than 6,000 religious schools and 445 religious schools - madrasahs. All Muslim peoples of Central Asia were exempted from military tax and service in the Army. Russian peasants and Cossacks, in turn, paid and fulfilled all taxes and duties. What is this if not clearly expressed national inequality? Can a state that has fought almost continuously ensure the safety of the lives of some of its Muslim subjects due to the fact that others, Christians and Volga Muslims, for example, paid an increased “blood tax”? And why then does the state have such subjects?
Perhaps the politicians from St. Petersburg were looking for the security of our southern borders by annexing new lands? But it could have been obtained by strengthening the old defensive line south of Guryev, Kokchetav and Ust-Kamenogorsk. Then fertile lands Southern Siberia, which had not been developed by anyone at that time, would have remained in Russia. But the restless Muslim population - would remain to the South of this line - would be free, sovereign and self-sufficient.
I think that it was clear to any impartial observer in Russia that, having huge amount due to its internal problems, the Orthodox Empire would not have been able to effectively assimilate, at least in a cultural and economic sense, the 10 million native population of the Turkestan and Steppe regions. But the principle “don’t think, but execute” was in effect. At the top, supposedly, the authorities know better. So they completed it.
Corruption, education, court
For the Russian government and authorities, Asia was a distant outskirts that was little known and understood. For many officials, officers who have committed misconduct are a place of exile. The Russian bureaucracy was not overly scrupulous. And the government is duly demanding.
Today we talk a lot about corruption. In native Central Asia, corruption and bribery (baksheesh) were the norm of life long before the Russian government came here. The Russian administration, having come to these parts, abolished slavery. But the imperial officials could not cancel the “kickbacks and veneration.” Or maybe they didn’t really want to. It is known that many Russian civilian and military officials are deeply and firmly entangled in Asian corruption schemes.
But arbitrariness and corruption were especially widespread among the local native administration, elected by the Muslims themselves. Judges, city elders, volost managers, Pentecostals, village and aul elders, having invested large sums of money in the “election campaign”, subsequently actively lined their pockets at the expense of their fellow tribesmen. Much has been written about this in the materials of the Senate audit of K. Palen, whose commission worked in Turkestan in 1908-1909 and published many reports. Despite the fact that their own people were robbing their own people, the local elders skillfully and successfully turned the arrows of hatred towards the Russian administration. And Russians in general - as infidels and conquerors.
The authorities of the Russian Empire sought to preserve as much as possible the prerogatives of the Muslim clergy in Asia, which carried out legal proceedings through adat and Sharia courts and controlled local religious (the only ones at that time) schools. But, while maintaining legal proceedings and local schools, the Russian authorities introduced a parallel system of Russian courts, which operated under the general control of military governors, regular schools, subordinate to the Ministry of Public Education and the so-called “Russian-native schools”. Fearing the “pernicious influence of foreign influence,” the authorities, until 1900 inclusive, prohibited mass pilgrimages of Central Asian Muslims to Mecca and Medina. Then they allowed it.
Each Russian village is equal to a battalion of troops
general Grodekov Nikolay Ivanovich
The catchphrase of one of the first explorers of Turkestan, General Grodekov, is well known: “every new Russian village in Turkestan is equal to a battalion of Russian troops.” The authorities of the Russian Empire understood that the only reliable element in the new lands could only be the Russians and Orthodox Christians themselves. Therefore, the peasant colonization of the region proceeded almost in parallel with the new lands being occupied by troops. The Steppe Code of 1891 allowed the local population to own 40 acres of land per person free of charge, which was relatively little for a nomad, but more than enough for a farmer. On free lands Russian resettlement villages and Cossack villages arose. The Cossacks came to Central Asia from Siberia, and a new Cossack army was created here - the Semirechensk.
Since clashes with nomads were frequent, the authorities allowed the settlers to have weapons. However, starting in 1910, the authorities began to gradually confiscate weapons from displaced peasants. As often happens, we played it safe and deceived ourselves. But there were few Cossacks in the region, even during the war of 1914-1917, the Semirechensky army fielded only two regiments (no more than 1000 sabers) and another regiment remained to carry out guard and border service in the region. As a result, this criminal disarmament of the Russian rural population and the conscription of many combat-ready men into the army during the Great War played their black role in the days of the uprising of 1916 - 1917.
Russian apartheid
A characteristic feature of Turkestan was that Russian population here there was absolutely no mixing with local Muslims. We lived completely separately. There was apartheid, in the most correct understanding of the word. The cultural and psychological differences turned out to be too great. The daily everyday life of both the Sarts (sedentary) and nomadic inhabitants of Turkestan was too alien to the Russians. And vice versa, of course, too. There was nothing uniting them in Faith, traditions, everyday culture. There was no ethnic mixing, no mixed marriages.
The Russian and the native population, who often lived side by side, had neither the desire nor the need for mutual penetration. At the same time, in the eyes of the locals, Russians, regardless of their status and property status, always remained colonizers and conquerors. In some sense, it is possible to understand them. No one has proven that Russian policy in the region was clearly and deliberately unfair. But the eternal dilemma - “friend or foe”, works contrary to logic and common sense. For an Uzbek cotton grower or a Kyrgyz shepherd, any injustice from “their own” probably seemed sweeter than the cultural trends emanating from the “alien” Russian administration. That is, there was no love or mutual respect. There was the right of the strong, which was supported by army bayonets. Not based on real national interests neither Russians nor the local Asian population.
It is no coincidence that the man who did a lot for the historical and ethnographic study of the Turkestan region, for its enlightenment and development, the director of the Tashkent gymnasium and trustee of the educational district, the founder of the Turkestan circle of lovers of archeology and history of the East (TKLAIV) N.P. Ostroumov, who lived almost his entire life in Tashkent, said at her departure the phrase that he “would not have stayed a day in the region if the troops were withdrawn from it.”
And General A.N. Kuropatkin, a phrase-monger and talker, but an observant and intelligent man who worked a lot in Turkestan, wrote in 1916: “The Russian government, during its half-century of rule in the region, failed not only to make foreigners faithful servants Russian Emperor and dedicated citizens Russian state, but also to instill in their consciousness a feeling of unity of their interests with the interests of the Russian people.”
That's exactly how it was. Russia was not a civilizational monolith. Even the Volga Tatars, who lived side by side with the Russians for several centuries, brought to the mountain at the end of the 19th century a mass of people who became pan-Turkists and pan-Islamists - supporters of the creation of a single world state of Turks and Muslims under the rule of the Turkish Sultan. They, mostly educated people, began to come to Russian Turkestan in thousands, took jobs as teachers, officials - and worked with the local Turkic and Turkic-Mongolian population. Against Russia and in favor of Turkey. In Russia they were called jadists (it would be more accurate to say jihadists). This work was especially intensified before the start of the Great War (1914 - 1918) and also bore fruit. For example, there are cases when Central Asian Muslims publicly collected money for the treatment of Ottoman Turkish soldiers wounded in the war. But they never voluntarily collected help for Russian war veterans.
Hidden national hatred smoldered in Turkestan. For it to burst into flames, it needed a reason. And a reason was found.
First world war aggravated the situation. The natives were not taken into the army and they did not die in the trenches. It can be said that Great War, which completely crossed out the entire previous move historical development Russia, had a very slight effect on the lives of the natives of Central Asia. But taxes on them still increased somewhat: supplies of meat and live cattle, monetary collection from wagons, zemstvo taxes. And on June 25, 1916, an imperial decree was issued (which was developed and prepared by the War Ministry), according to which men aged 19 to 43 years from the Turkestan and Steppe territories in the amount of approximately 480 thousand people (this is slightly less than 5% of the total native population) should to be called up to the internal provinces of Russia and to the front line for rear work (digging trenches, erecting earthen fortifications, underwater duty). This measure was obviously forced. The country's human resources were running out. The authorities believed that another breakthrough was needed to win. It would be better if the imperial authorities thought about how to resolve the issue with “revolutionary internationalists.” And with the separation of Muslim Turkestan from the empire, with the granting of complete independence to it.
They say that the decree was issued in the summer, when field work was underway in Asia. But why doesn’t any of the apologists of the uprising remember that the Christian male population of the empire was at the front, suffering huge bloody losses for the third summer in a row, and field work in Russian villages was carried out by old men, women and children? Is this what is called a just national policy?
In July 1916, Russia became aware of the technical failure of the Russian army on the Turkish front. General Baratov's corps retreated under pressure from Turkish-German troops in Mesopotamia, leaving Kermanshah and Hamadan. The Russians still controlled vast swaths of territory in Eastern Turkey and Northern and Western Iran. But in Turkestan, the rumor of a retreat was immediately interpreted as a sign of the weakness of the Russian army. Pro-Turkish and pro-German agitators, and there were many of them among the Jadist Tatars, began to assure the local natives that soon the troops of Germany and the Turkish Sultan would defeat the Russians and liberate Central Asia from the tsarist oppression. The Chinese also actively worked against Russia, considering the lands of Central Asia theirs and seeking to weaken Russian influence here.
As Russian officials wrote in one of the reports: “There is an indisputable reason to consider that the perpetrators of the agitation are, firstly, some elements from the neighboring Kuldzha region (China - author), and, secondly, agents of Germany: the resolve of the leaders of the riot has matured and strengthened unexpectedly quickly because in their delusions they were supported by someone’s proclamations that spoke of the weakness of Russia, the invincibility of Germany and the imminent invasion of Russian Turkestan by the Chinese.” Reports from Russian officials stated that the collection of weapons for a future uprising and the dissemination of calls for it in different regions of Turkestan and the Steppe Territory had been noted since the summer of 1915.
Revolt of the Sarts
The uprising broke out soon after the proclamation of the “manifesto on rear work” - at first Fergana Valley and in other territories of the former Kokand Khanate (July 4, 1916 in Khojent), where Islamic fanaticism and anti-Russian sentiment were traditionally strongest. It began almost simultaneously in several dozen settlements, which clearly speaks of communication and coordination between the rebels. Almost everywhere in the Sartov lands (speaking modern language- on the lands of settled Uzbeks) the uprising was led by mullahs and dervishes. Their slogans were: “Down with the White Tsar and the Russians.” “Let's kill the Russians and create Muslim state».
One of the most ardent supporters of " holy war Kasym-Khoja, the imam of the Friday mosque in the village of Zaamin, stood against the “infidel” Russians. At the beginning of the uprising, he was proclaimed “Zaamin Bek” and declared that by destroying all Russians, he would restore the power of the Kokand Khan. Since Russians in the Fergana Valley lived mainly in cities, at first the victims of the rebel Muslims were bailiffs, a few police officers and officials of the postal and telegraph department - several dozen people. They killed brutally and for show. Kasym-Khoja’s army, in fact, massacred all the Russians who fell into his hands. The actions of the rebels led to the cessation of telegraph communications between Russian cities in Turkestan and the central regions of Russia. On July 17, 1916, martial law was declared in the Turkestan district.
There was a world war going on, and there were almost no Russian troops in the region. On the vast territory there were only scattered Cossack hundreds and reserve companies. Therefore, self-defense squads were created from the civilian Russian population wherever possible. The rebels failed to take Tashkent or Samarkand. But Khojent and Jizzakh were under their control. As well as the rural areas of Fergana, Samarkand, Syrdarya regions.
Soon after the start of the uprising, the tsarist government realized the seriousness of the situation and the scale of the threat. Adjutant General Kuropatkin was appointed governor-general of the region, who showed himself to be a weak commander in both the Japanese and German wars, but in the civil life of the Asian outskirts - a strong administrator. Kuropatkin knew Turkestan well; he quickly gathered Russian army and Cossack detachments into a fist and began to crush the uprising. Khojent and Jizzakh resisted fiercely, but were taken. By the beginning of autumn, in the lands of settled Uzbeks of the Turkestan region, the uprising was largely suppressed. Its leaders were either killed, captured, or fled to the steppes. Data on how many Russians died from a knife, saber, bullet or lance of fighters against infidels vary. According to my estimates, on the original territory of the uprising, in the former Kokand lands, about 200 civilians and officials, and about 50 soldiers died.
Tragedy in Semirechye
Semirechye is the area around Lake Issyk-Kul and up to Lake Balkhash in the north. On the territory of Semirechye, the most fertile and favorable part of Eastern Turkestan for life, are the cities of Verny (Alma-Ata) and Pishpek (Frunze). Before the arrival of the Russians, these lands were inhabited mainly by nomads and semi-nomads - Kyrgyz and Kazakhs. There has never been a settled Uzbek (Sartov) population in Semirechye. Therefore, Russian villages and Cossack villages quickly arose in areas suitable for farming. After the establishment of Russian power in the region, several tens of thousands of Muslim Uighurs and Dungans moved here from China from repression and persecution. Like the Russians, they were mainly engaged in settled agriculture and cattle breeding.
By the time the uprising began in the summer of 1916, the Russian rural population of Semirechye (Cossacks and peasants) was very small. If we take into account that a significant part of the Russians already lived in cities such as Verny, and almost all adult men were drafted into the army, then we can assume that no more than 25,000 people remained in villages and villages, mostly women, children and the elderly. It was they who became the main victims of the massacre committed by their former Muslim neighbors - the Kyrgyz, Kazakhs and Uyghurs.
Having flared up brightly, but being suppressed by the end of summer in sedentary Turkestan, the uprising quickly spread to the lands of the nomads. Here it flared up with particular strength and hatred. There were not enough troops to suppress it in the vast expanses. The rebels burned the farms of Russian settlers and Cossacks, destroyed schools, post offices, and administrative buildings. In a telegram to the Minister of War dated August 16, 1916, General Kuropatkin wrote that “in one Przhevalsky district (where there were the most Russian villagers), 6,024 families of Russian settlers suffered in property terms, the majority of whom lost all their movable property. 3,478 people were missing and killed.” Both peasant villages and Cossack villages were taken by surprise. Then they tried to create self-defense units, but weapons from the peasants, as already written, were actively confiscated by the authorities starting in 1910...
A terrible tragedy occurred in August 1916 on the northern shore of Lake Issyk-Kul, where it was destroyed by Kyrgyz nomads Orthodox monastery, brutally killed (hacked, stabbed, impaled) not only all its inhabitants and workers, but 70 Russian children, boys and girls aged 10 to 14 years, who came to the monastery camp from the Vernensky gymnasium for the summer. I will write more about this separately.
It should be noted that, in addition to the nomads, many Uyghurs and Dungans, Muslims by religion, who were recently saved by the Russian authorities from the Chinese, giving them shelter on the lands of the Russian Empire, took an active part in the uprising against the Russians. According to official data from Russian reports (in my opinion, deliberately underestimated), by the end of 1916, 2,325 Russian residents died in Semirechye, 1,384 people went missing. This means that they were also taken prisoner, then killed - but the remains were not found..
This is a huge figure, more than 15% of the total Russian population of the Semirechensk region. And approximately 30% of the entire adult population of its villages and towns.
It is terrible that it was the Russian rural settlers, disarmed by their own authorities, who suffered the most terrible and bloody losses. Some of those who survived left terrible descriptions of the cruelty of the nomads if the latter managed to capture the Russians. They ripped open their bellies, impaled them, and skinned living people. The number of Russian government officials who died during the uprising throughout Turkestan is small in relation to their total number - 9 people. The rebels also killed 22 native officials.
Uprising in Kazakhstan
The uprising in Turkestan was largely suppressed by October 2016. But it continued to blaze among the Kazakh nomads in the Steppe General Government. Here, as already noted, many leaders of the uprising - the Sarts - fled. The slogans of the rebels were the same - “let’s kill all Russians and build a Muslim state.” But, since the rural Russian population in these places was not very large, and major cities they could not take the rebels; the number of Russian casualties in the regions of the Steppe Territory was lower than in Semirechye. Despite the fact that military governor Nikolai Sukhomlinov postponed the deadline for conscription for rear work, the uprising was only flaring up. The rebel detachments, under the leadership of Imanov, besieged one of the regional centers of the region - the city of Turgai.
Hastily formed consolidated Russian army units were sent to suppress the uprising. Their total number in the Steppe region and Turkestan reached 30 thousand people. For comparison: Antonov’s peasant uprising in the Tambov and Voronezh provinces of Russia in 1921 was suppressed by Red Army detachments and security officers led by Tukhachevsky in the amount of 40 thousand people. And the number of rebel Kazakhs in Imanov’s detachment alone during the period of its highest rise was 50 thousand. Having eventually been defeated, the rebels went to the mountains and remote camps, from where they carried out raids until mid-February 1917. Then she came February revolution. Later, Imanov, quite logically, joined the Red Army with the remnants of his troops.
The struggle of the Yomuts in Transcaspia
The Transcaspian region (modern Turkmenistan) was administratively separate part Turkestan region. Its main population, the Tekin tribe, did not participate in the uprising. The second largest Turkmen tribe, the Yomuts, fought, not against the Russians, but against the Khiva Uzbeks. The Khiva and Bukhara khanates were independent states under Russian protectorate. Bukhara, not daring to act openly, supported the rebels and sheltered them on its territory. Khiva had no time for that. Beginning in 1912, there was internecine strife between the Uzbeks, who ruled the khanate, and the Turkmen Yomuts and Chovdurs, who challenged the Uzbeks for their rights to part of the power in the khanate. The Turkmens were led by the famous “field commander” Junaid Khan, who acted very successfully. Russia, not very willingly, helped the official Khiva Khan. The actions of the Yomuts, therefore, were transferred to the Caspian regions of the Krasnovodsk district of the Trans-Caspian Territory. By January 1917 they were suppressed. Junaid Khan went to Afghanistan, then returned, collaborated with the Reds, quarreled with them, and until the early 1930s he was one of the most prominent leaders of the Basmachi movement in Central Asia.
Victims and consequences
Official historiography does not give an exact number of deaths as a result of this uprising. About 250 Russian soldiers and officers were killed in the battles. Total number The Russian people who died a violent death during the massacre of 1916 can be estimated at 4000 - 4500 people.
The mobilization of natives for rear work was weak. In total, about 110 thousand people were sent. Many of them, having set off in the canopy of 1916, did not even have time to arrive at their destination and stick shovels into the ground. After waiting for several months in the regions of Penza, Syzran, and Samara, they were returned back. Fearing punishment, about 300 thousand Kazakhs and Kyrgyz, participants in the uprising, fled to China.
In 1917, a revolution took place in Russia, then a coup d'état. The country is gone. The victims of the uprising were forgotten. There are no signs that today, on the centenary of the bloody massacre of Russians in Central Asia, the Russian authorities will remember them even in a word. Let us remember.
Conclusion, which, in my opinion, we are obliged to do today, is that the rulers of the country do not have the right to play “soldiers and territories.” You can annex and develop new territories. But it is absolutely forbidden to connect something that cannot be connected. Central Asia, which still harbors a grudge against the “Russian colonialists,” has taken away from our state a lot of strength and resources that we so needed for our own national development. It didn't make anyone feel any better. It definitely didn’t become Russian. Instead of moving to Asia and the Caucasus, it was necessary, relying on culture and economics, to make Ukraine and Belarus a single national organism with Great Russia, and to more actively develop Siberia .
You can't erase a word from a song. You can't rewrite Russian history. We need to at least know her. After reading this article, remember all the Russian people who died in Russian Turkestan during the brutal massacre of 1916. I am sure the Lord thought about their souls.
Igor Artyomov, orientalist, candidate of historical sciences
The “visiting card” of the architectural heritage of Uzbekistan is the Registan Square in Samarkand, thanks to the famous architectural ensemble of the 15th-17th centuries located on it, consisting of the Ulugbek Madrasah (1417-1420), the Sherdor Madrasah (1619-1636) and the Tillya-Kari Madrasah (1646-1636). 1660). The ensemble of three madrasahs is a unique example of the art of urban planning and a wonderful example of the architectural design of the main square of the city. In 2001, this ensemble, along with other ancient buildings of Samarkand, was included in the List World Heritage UNESCO.
However, Prokudin-Gorsky saw this wonderful ensemble in 1911 in a completely different way from how modern tourists can see it. Collapsed domes, crumbling mosaics, falling minarets. To save the latter, in the 1930s. Soviet restorers obliged them with steel ropes.
Ulugbek Madrasah in 1911 and 1958:
In the photograph by the American Life magazine photographer Howard Sokhurek, we see the Ulugbek Madrasah mothballed rather than restored. In subsequent decades, this monument was completely restored.
This is what it looks like nowadays:
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The Sherdor (Shir-Dor) madrasah standing opposite was much better preserved by the beginning of the 20th century, since it was three centuries younger. But even here, significant work by restorers was required.
Shir-Dor in 1911 and 100 years later:
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Another architectural symbol of Samarkand is the mausoleum of the famous conqueror Tamerlane, known as Gur-Emir.
The family tomb of Timur and the heirs of the empire was erected in the southwestern part of the city in 1404. Mosaics made from light and dark blue glazed bricks adorn the walls and drum, the geometric mosaic design sparkling brightly in the sun.
This masterpiece of Central Asian architecture occupies an important place in the history of world Islamic architecture. Gur-Emir served as a prototype for famous monuments Mughal-era architecture: the Humayun Mausoleum in Delhi and the Taj Mahal mausoleum in Agra, built by the descendants of Timur, who were once the ruling dynasty of North India.
The monument was restored in the 1950s (outer domes and glaze), and larger restoration work began in 1967.
Dome of the mausoleum in 1911 and 2004:
The entrance arch of the ensemble of the Gur-Emir mausoleum shows more fully the volume of work done by the restorers.
State of the arch in 1911 and today:
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No less amazing is the transformation of another Samarkand pearl - the ensemble of mausoleums of the Samarkand nobility Shakhi-Zinda.
Prokudin-Gorsky dedicated dozens of photographs to this ancient necropolis, visiting there every time he visited Samarkand. The deplorable state of the monuments struck him to the core. In his report at the congress of artists in 1912, Sergei Mikhailovich splashed out all his indignation and bitterness: " Shah-Zinde Mosque. Filmed in the evening. Something will remain of it, because there are mullahs sitting there begging for money for the show. In general, the supervision of these wonderful nine-century-old monuments is extremely vile. Nothing is organized. No repairs, no one cares, no one is interested."
During Soviet times, a lot of work was done on scientific study and conservation of the necropolis, but back in the 1990s. most of his mausoleums looked almost like they did in the time of Prokudin-Gorsky. A striking change happened to them literally in recent years- now some parts of the ensemble are barely recognizable.
For example, this is what the Nameless Mausoleum looked like in 1911 and a couple of years ago:
Mausoleum of Usto Ali Nasafi in 1907 and today:
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Entrance to the Shirin-Bika-Aka mausoleum in 1911 and today:
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Main entrance to the Shahi Zinda necropolis:
Similar changes occurred with the ancient monuments of Bukhara. Perhaps we will do a separate review on them later.
Here we will show only one comparison, namely with the city citadel of Ark, where the emir's palace was located.
The main entrance to the fortress in 1907 and today:
Of course, in 1907 the condition of the emir's palace was relatively good; it was still being repaired. Soviet restorers, however, had to work hard later, since in 1920 the Red troops of Mikhail Frunze actively used artillery when storming the city.
Large-scale work to restore ancient monuments has also been undertaken in neighboring Turkmenistan. The most famous medieval sights in this country are located at the site of ancient Merv.
A thousand years ago it was the center of a thriving irrigation civilization, of which only sand-covered ruins remained by the early 20th century. Although they looked, on the whole, much more modest than the colorful mosques and mausoleums of Samarkand and Bukhara, Prokudin-Gorsky paid considerable attention to them.
Located away from the main tourist routes, the ruins of Merv to the end Soviet era They remained almost unchanged and only after Turkmenistan gained independence they decided to restore them as a symbol of the ancient culture of the Turkmen nation.
One of the most recognizable monuments there is the Sanjar Mausoleum.
Seljuk Sultan Ahmad Sanjar himself ordered the construction of the mausoleum and named it “Dar al-akhira” (“House of the Afterlife”). In 1157 he was buried. The mausoleum was destroyed by the Mongols during the invasion of Khorezm in 1221]. The Sultan's ashes were reburied in an unknown place. Under the tombstone of the mausoleum is still empty.
This is what the mausoleum looked like in 1911 and 1970:
This is exactly how all Soviet viewers saw him in the film “White Sun of the Desert.”
In 2004, the monument was restored with the assistance of the Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA).
Now the comparison looks like this:
No less interesting is the fate of the mausoleum-mosque of Yusuf Hamadansky, which underwent a radical reconstruction in the 1990s.
View from approximately the same angle in 1911 and today:
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A massive minaret and some other building of unusual architectural forms were built next to the mosque. And the courtyard of the mosque, where scenes from the film “White Sun of the Desert” were filmed, no longer exists.
We will definitely dedicate a separate big post to this mosque.
We invite you to take a look at what propaganda posters published in the Soviet Union for residents of the Central Asian republics. Given all the differences in national identity and faith, for local residents special posters were printed that await you further.
“Farmer, don’t choose these people. They were and remain your enemies! – 1920s.
"Attach labor discipline on collective farms! – 1933
“In a strong alliance of workers and peasants, we will destroy the oppressors!” – 1920s
“Life in the East moved slowly” – 1920s
The black clouds of capital that shrouded factories, factories and fields are dissipating before the bright sun of socialism. 1919
Tatar Club – 1935
“After giving birth, do not get out of bed before 7 days” - 1927
“He who doesn’t work doesn’t eat!” – 1920
“Fill the earth with water. She will feed you” – 1920s
Poster encourages farmers to harvest cotton - 1920s
“With powerful efforts we will create steam locomotives, restore transport, and destroy the devastation!” – 1920
“For the Soviet East! To the 10th anniversary of the Red Army" - 1928
Despite mechanization in agriculture, let's not part with the horse - 1933
“Workers and farmers! Don’t let what has been created in 10 years be destroyed!” – 1927
Poster with a statement by V. Lenin calling for hard work - 1933.
“Muslim women! The king, beys and khans made you powerless” - 1921
“Tatar woman! Join the ranks of all working women Soviet Russia. Hand in hand with the Russian proletarian women you will break the last shackles.”
Photographer Caroline Drake's long-term project, Rivers of Paradise, is not only about... waterways. It is dedicated to the surrounding nature in general. Politics. Culture. And changes. Since 2007, Caroline has traveled 15 times to five former Soviet republics: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. During her visit to Central Asia, she wanted to know how the life and culture of Muslims was influenced Soviet Union, and how they have changed since its collapse. At first she photographed everything that caught her attention. Then she began to become interested in the complex relationships between the five countries.
(Total 19 photos)
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1. Irrigation canal not far from. (Carolyn Drake/Panos Pictures and prospekt)
2. Spring in the Suusamyr valley in northwestern Kyrgyzstan. (Carolyn Drake/Panos Pictures and prospekt)
3. Cherry picking along the Surkhob River in. (Carolyn Drake/Panos Pictures and prospekt)
4. House in the Karakum desert in Turkmenistan. (Carolyn Drake/Panos Pictures and prospekt)
5. Reservoir above the Nurek dam in Tajikistan. (Carolyn Drake/Panos Pictures and prospekt)
6. Poachers cross the canal separating the Uzbek and Kyrgyz sides in Karasu. (Carolyn Drake/Panos Pictures and prospekt)
7. Restaurant in Kokand, Uzbekistan. (Carolyn Drake/Panos Pictures and prospekt)
8. Main swimming pool in “Garam Chashma” – sanatorium former USSR in the Pamir Mountains in Tajikistan. (Carolyn Drake/Panos Pictures and prospekt)
9. A cotton picker near Uzbekistan. (Carolyn Drake/Panos Pictures and prospekt)
10. Views of Khujand, Tajikistan, from the Leninabad Hotel. (Carolyn Drake/Panos Pictures and prospekt)
11. Mountain stream near the Garam Chashma sanatorium. (Carolyn Drake/Panos Pictures and prospekt)
12. Darvaz gas crater in Turkmenistan. (Carolyn Drake/Panos Pictures and prospekt)
13. A Kyrgyz truck driver who earns money at home by moving apartments and houses, not far from the Chinese border. (Carolyn Drake/Panos Pictures and prospekt)
14. Schoolchildren pick cotton in the city of Zhetysai, Kazakhstan. (Carolyn Drake/Panos Pictures and prospekt)
15. The Syr Darya River meanders through Uzbekistan to a canal that irrigates cotton and wheat fields. (Carolyn Drake/Panos Pictures and prospekt)
16. Dried delta of the Amu Darya River. (Carolyn Drake/Panos Pictures and prospekt)
17. An Uzbek woman, whose family professes Sharia law, poses in the courtyard of her house in Karasu. (Carolyn Drake/Panos Pictures and prospekt)
18. New fountain in the capital of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat. (Carolyn Drake/Panos Pictures and prospekt)
19. The sisters came to swim at the pond in their village in Tajikistan. (Carolyn Drake/Panos Pictures and prospekt)